Tianmen

Tianmen
天门市
Tienmen
Tianmen South Station Entrance Hall
Tianmen South Station Entrance Hall
Location of Tianmen City jurisdiction in Hubei
Location of Tianmen City jurisdiction in Hubei
Tianmen is located in Hubei
Tianmen
Tianmen
Location of the city centre in Hubei
Coordinates (Tianmen government): 30°39′50″N 113°10′01″E
country People's Republic of China
Province Hubei
Area
 • County-level & Sub-prefectural city 2,622 km2 (1,012 sq mi)
 • Urban
324.40 km2 (125.25 sq mi)
Elevation
32 m (104 ft)
Population
 (2014)
 • County-level & Sub-prefectural city 1,731,482
 • Density 660/km2 (1,700/sq mi)
 • Urban
301,000
 • Urban density 930/km2 (2,400/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+8 (China Standard)
Website 天门市人民政府门户网站 (translation: Tianmen City People's Government Web Portal) (in Simplified Chinese)

Tianmen (simplified Chinese: 天门; traditional Chinese: 天門; pinyin: Tiānmén; lit. 'sky gate') is a sub-prefecture-level city (sometimes considered a county-level city) in central Hubei Province, China.

It is on the Jianghan Plain, on the west side of Wuhan (the biggest city of Central China, as well as the capital of Hubei) and the east of Jingzhou (a famous city in Chinese history). Formerly known as Jingling (竟陵), it was renamed to Tianmen in 1726 during the Qing dynasty. The name comes from the Sky Gate Mountains (meaning “tianmen” in Chinese) which lie northwest of the city.

It is the hometown of Lu Yu, the writer of The Classic of Tea, who is respected as "the Sage of Tea" for his contribution to the tea culture. Tianmen has the largest population among the same-level cities in Central China. It was honoured "National Civilized City" by Chinese government in 2014.

History

Prehistoric ancient settlements in the Tianmen area existed at least 7,000 to 8,000 years ago as evidenced by Shijiahe neolithic tribal ruins which include recent discoveries of stone (jade) devices, pottery, bone, mussels, as well as bronze articles and other artifacts, such as those in the original Tao Zu patrilineal cultural heritage period.

In January 2008, more than 100 persons and city officials in Tianmen came under investigation after the fatal beating of a 41-year-old man, Wei Wenhua, general manager of a construction company, who was using his cellphone to photograph a dispute between villagers and city inspectors.

Geography

Map including Tianmen (labeled as T'IEN-MEN (walled) 天門) (1953)

Administrative divisions

Tianmen administers:

# Name Chinese (S)
Subdistricts
1 Jingling Sundistrict 竟陵街道
2 Qiaoxiang Subdistrict 侨乡街道 (天门经济开发区)
3 Yanglin Subdistrict 杨林街道
Towns
4 Duobao Town 多宝镇
5 Tuoshi Town 拖市镇
6 Zhanggang Town 张港镇
7 Jiangchang Town 蒋场镇
8 Wangchang Town 汪场镇
9 Yuxin Town (Yü-hsin-ho) 渔薪镇
10 Huangtan Town 黄潭镇
11 Yuekou Town 岳口镇
12 Henglin Town 横林镇
13 Pengshi Town 彭市镇
14 Mayang Town 麻洋镇
15 Duoxiang Town 多祥镇
16 Ganyi Town 干驿镇
17 Mawan Town 马湾镇
18 Lushi Town 卢市镇
19 Xiaoban Town 小板镇
20 Jiuzhen Town 九真镇
21 Zaoshi Town 皂市镇
22 Hushi Town 胡市镇
23 Shijiahe Town (formerly Shihe) 石家河镇 (formerly 石河镇)
24 Fozishan Town 佛子山镇
Townships
25 Jingtan Township 净潭乡
Other Areas
26 Tianmen Industrial Park 天门工业园
27 Jianghu Farm 蒋湖农场
28 Baimaohu Farm 白茅湖农场
29 Chenhu Committee 沉湖管委会

Climate

Climate data for Tianmen (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1981–2010)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 20.4
(68.7)
27.2
(81.0)
31.5
(88.7)
33.9
(93.0)
36.1
(97.0)
37.5
(99.5)
38.8
(101.8)
39.7
(103.5)
37.2
(99.0)
34.3
(93.7)
29.2
(84.6)
22.7
(72.9)
39.7
(103.5)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 8.3
(46.9)
11.4
(52.5)
16.2
(61.2)
22.5
(72.5)
27.3
(81.1)
30.2
(86.4)
32.5
(90.5)
32.5
(90.5)
28.7
(83.7)
23.4
(74.1)
17.1
(62.8)
10.8
(51.4)
21.7
(71.1)
Daily mean °C (°F) 4.3
(39.7)
7.1
(44.8)
11.6
(52.9)
17.7
(63.9)
22.7
(72.9)
26.2
(79.2)
28.7
(83.7)
28.2
(82.8)
24.0
(75.2)
18.4
(65.1)
12.3
(54.1)
6.5
(43.7)
17.3
(63.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 1.3
(34.3)
3.8
(38.8)
8.0
(46.4)
13.8
(56.8)
18.8
(65.8)
22.9
(73.2)
25.6
(78.1)
25.0
(77.0)
20.5
(68.9)
14.8
(58.6)
8.8
(47.8)
3.2
(37.8)
13.9
(57.0)
Record low °C (°F) −12.7
(9.1)
−6.4
(20.5)
−1.9
(28.6)
1.5
(34.7)
8.6
(47.5)
12.9
(55.2)
18.9
(66.0)
16.2
(61.2)
10.3
(50.5)
2.1
(35.8)
−3.0
(26.6)
−10.6
(12.9)
−12.7
(9.1)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 41.8
(1.65)
52.4
(2.06)
71.3
(2.81)
114.8
(4.52)
151.0
(5.94)
179.1
(7.05)
199.1
(7.84)
97.3
(3.83)
69.5
(2.74)
68.8
(2.71)
50.3
(1.98)
26.8
(1.06)
1,122.2
(44.19)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 8.3 9.5 11.2 11.5 12.2 11.4 10.6 8.9 7.8 9.9 8.8 7.5 117.6
Average snowy days 4.1 2.2 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.4 1.3 9
Average relative humidity (%) 73 73 73 74 73 77 79 78 75 73 73 71 74
Mean monthly sunshine hours 85.7 84.5 109.5 136.8 150.6 137.0 189.1 197.6 148.4 132.8 120.0 104.6 1,596.6
Percent possible sunshine 27 27 29 35 35 32 44 49 41 38 38 33 36
Source: China Meteorological Administration

Hometown of overseas Chinese of Central China: Tian men is a major hometown of overseas Chinese in Central Chinese. It is hometown of approximately 80,000 overseas Chinese, and also hometown of about 200,000 Hong Kong people, Macau people and Taiwanese.

Transportation